AIMY IN A CAGE: VOD

SYNOPSIS:
Aimy Micry (Allisyn Ashley Arm) a creative teenage girl is placed into a mind-altering procedure to civilise her, while news of a virus epidemic spreads throughout the world.

Review by Andrew L. Urban:The filmmakers claim to be "inspired by avant-garde cinema of the 70s and 80s, of Terry Gilliam, Ken Russell, Peter Greenaway" and you could say also influenced by the likes of David Lynch and Wes Anderson - notably by the magical production design inventiveness of the latter two. I would go so far as to say the film's production & costume designer, Chloe Barcelou, is the most visible star of the film, filling each scene with colour-drenched mise en scene and fantastical wardrobe, demanding a second or even third viewing to fully catalogue it all in our mind's eye. Hair and make up match Barcelou in panache and invention.

You won't have heard of Hooroo Jackson (a larger than life, hairy, bearded young man with round glasses) as this is his (larger than life) debut; it's an audacious start, and his audacity was rewarded with the Director's Prize at the 2015 Portland Film Festival. And you won't recognize Crispin Glover as the bearded, brown toothed, multi-ringed charlatan Claude Bohringer ... it's a relatively calm performance amidst the chaos of the other characters, many of whom - especially Aimy herself (Allisyn Ashley Arm) - scream at each other most of the time. But that's what you get when you live in a claustrophobic house of many colours and a million objects, where Aimy is caged, under treatment to cure her of being a crazy creative spirit.

It's a film of arresting images, often surreal and fantastical, a visceral work that is void of physical violence yet violent in other ways, absolutely committed to its creative chaos. Jostling for attention in the midst of it all are clips of vintage black and white cartoons playin on a vintage TV, where a news anchor also makes odd appearanaces (odd in all senses of the word). It is an idiosyncratic, unique and brave film; while Jackson may draw inspiration from the filmmakers mentioned, he copies none of them.